Archive for the south

"Why, I do declare," Miss Elmers said," how awfully hard these men folk make it on us demure ladies. Seems so burdensome, doesn't it now, with all those fancy big numbers and those complicated words they use. Why, it's all a woman can do to not take to the salts and feel the vapors without a man at her side to tell her what she should think. Another Mint Julep?"

If you think that awful made-up dialogue is from some old MGM costume Civil War piece, it certainly could be. But this kind of talk is actually being spewed right now as we speak. And it's being done by a North Carolina congresswoman, Renee Ellmers, who believes that the Republican Party would make more headway with women voters if it could bring policy discussions “down to a woman’s level.”

The problem, she said, is that male politicians are making the policy discussion too complicated for women to understand.

“Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level,” Ellmers said. “Many of my male colleagues, when they go to the House floor, you know, they’ve got some pie chart or graph behind them and they’re talking about trillions of dollars and how, you know, the debt is awful and, you know, we all agree with that.”

“We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down to a woman’s level and what everything that she is balancing in her life — that’s the way to go,” she said.

Can you really believe this woman was elected to her office in Congress? She's about as contemporary as a hooped skirt and a whale bone corset. What is going on in this country that backwards thinkers like this are being allowed to ruin the lives of other women?

North Carolina by its mere antiquated, backwards and restrictive actions has a lot to apologize for -- but Renee Elmers's election to Congress might take the cake.

Wake up people. Your votes count. Make sure you use them and use them for your best interests. You don't need someone to tell you what's right nor do you need someone to talk down to you. You deserve better than this.

It's that time of year when campaign ads are starting to infiltrate and pollute our radio and TV viewing. Candidates sling accusations and innuendos causing more irritable bowel syndrome than the hash at the local greasy spoon. Isn't it time to take a serious look at how these campaign ads are put together and what they really say?

The people over at Represent.Us have done just that. They've chosen a candidate who's so real, so sure to garner a huge amount of votes with his write-in candidacy, that it could just spell disaster for Mitch McConnell. This man, Gil Fulbright is so honest and sincere you just can't turn away. You will want to watch more than once. So go ahead -- check out Gil Fulbright (not affiliated with the similarly named scholarship), Phil Gulbright, or Phillip Mamouf-Wifarts. No matter what you call him, "Funny" is his middle name.

Oh, tip-toe around all you want, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. You put your private parts and your nose into a place they didn't belong and now you've not only screwed over your home state, but perhaps the entire south. Hope you're feeling pretty good right now.

The issues was the unionizing vote taken a few days ago at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. If the vote when for the union, the workers would be covered for additional benefits and in some cases, raises. Not bad if you're a worker. Interestingly the company, Volkswagen was for it.

But other auto manufacturers in the South, noted for their Republican anti-union, anti-labor stands were not so happy. It would mean workers would want to work for Volkswagen instead of their lower paying counterparts. Heavens. That could mean an increase in the living standard for these people. Who would want that?

Certainly not Sen. Corker. He broke with tradition and actively inserted himself into the union election. This may actually be a violation of the National Labor Relations Board rules -- but let's put that aside. Let's say he skirted the issue just enough to be legal and not persecuted (which still remains to be seen).

The Tennessee senator came out and used unnamed sources as saying, well, here's exactly what he said, according to HUFFPO:

"I've had conversations today and based on those am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga," Corker said last week.

Now how politician-y can you get. He had conversations but doesn't say with whom? And those unnamed sources "assured," not guaranteed him that a vote against unionization would bring a new plant to Chattanooga.

Seems that's not the case at all. So Senator Bobby Pinocchio Corker, before your nose grows so long it causes you to do a face plant into the ground, why not reveal this source of your information? Whoever it was, doesn't seem to have fed you the truth. And how do we know that? Why from the Volkswagen people themselves. Reuters:

Following the union vote, the head of Volkswagen's works council told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the automaker would hesitate to expand in the U.S. South.

"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the South again," said works council leader Bernd Osterloh.

So, now how do you feel, Senator Corksucker? You not only drove a future Volkswagen plant out of your state, but also out of the South. How many jobs did you just fu** your constituents out of?

You're such a Republican. Cost Americans good paying jobs and then call out the President on how little he's done to stimulate the economy and create jobs. It's hard to accomplish both of those when you individually and the Republicans as a party are so hell bent on ruining America.

A few days ago it was Bill Nye, the science guy who took on a creationist named Ken Ham in a debate. It was a battle of science vs. the Bible? Well, somehow science won. Go figure? Who'd of thunk it, right?

Well, in the past few days, the second big snowstorm of the winter - winter, mind you - fell deep into the south. How could that be? I mean, after all, it's winter. It's the south. People come here to get... warm?

Well, there's only one answer for the current snow/blizzard-like conditions deep into Dixie -- well, actually two answers for that. The right one (science) and the other one (a conspiracy theory).

Both the wackadoo theory and the actual science are brought to you by Rachel Maddow, the Science Gal. Yeah, she wears many hats. And this one fits her, and all of us, really nicely.

So, for those of you who look at a margarine spread and mock "I can't believe it's not butter," here's "It's the South and I can't believe it's snow."